Seeing the 2014 M3 Sedan (F80) in the harsh winter of northern Sweden this time of the year for cold weather testing is no surprise. Nor is seeing the prototype at a gas station being refueled.

But, the type of fuel that this F80 M3 test car was being filled with by its driver was certainly surprising. An astute witness captured these images at a gas station in Kode, Sweden, while witnessing the test driver of the M3 refueling the car with E85 ethanol fuel (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline).

So, is BMW testing an M3 which is powered by ethanol fuel? Seems unlikely. Human error seems to be the cause as the witness described the seemingly confused test driver first grab the wrong fuel pump handle (blue is for ethanol, green is for regular gasoline in Sweden) and then initially look for the fuel door on the wrong side of the car. The driver may also have mistaken the blue pump handle for regular gasoline because 98 octane gas in Germany (where we assume he's from) is marked by a blue handle.

Another (unlikely) possibility may be that the wrong type of fuel is being filled on purpose in order to test the ill effects of it on the F80 M3 engine - a turbo inline 6.

There was no report on the results of this scene, but if this was truly a mistake, we picture a still confused test driver wondering why the M3 prototype's engine is behaving oddly, running rough, and/or being down on power.

Why is everyone assuming that this is wrong? Come on now... This is a test mule. BMW sells cars in Brazil and by law the ethanol content there is 25%. How do you know if BMW is not testing special ECU programming to take advantage of pure ethanol?

Hell, the N54 engine in the E90 335i is perfectly happy with E50 fuel blends and proper software!

Wouldn't potentially running on E85 (at least as a map flex/fuel), be completely in-line with BMW's focus on improving emissions? Seems that at least exploring the use of E85 is within the realm of plausability.

Oh really tell me more about stuff eating seals.
Mabby u should learn about corrosion inhibitors
and the laws passed in 1996 in the US regarding ethanol content in gasoline and the required changes to ALL fuel systems to account for ethanol corrosion.
Just mabby

Why is everyone assuming that this is wrong? Come on now... This is a test mule. BMW sells cars in Brazil and by law the ethanol content there is 25%. How do you know if BMW is not testing special ECU programming to take advantage of pure ethanol?

Hell, the N54 engine in the E90 335i is perfectly happy with E50 fuel blends and proper software!

Thanks. Who are we to speculate what the hell they're up to, it's test mule!

"Human error seems to be the cause as the witness described the seemingly confused test driver first grab the wrong fuel pump handle (blue is for ethanol, green is for regular gasoline in Sweden) and then initially look for the fuel door on the wrong side of the car. The driver may also have mistaken the blue pump handle for regular gasoline because 98 octane gas in Germany (where we assume he's from) is marked by a blue handle."

So, whether or not he meant to select E85 fuel, he was at any rate not altogether sure of himself at the time he made this fuel stop. It could easily have been a mistake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhabs

Wouldn't potentially running on E85 (at least as a map flex/fuel), be completely in-line with BMW's focus on improving emissions? Seems that at least exploring the use of E85 is within the realm of plausability.

Emissions may be better (I don't know, honestly), but efficiency is generally worse.